When you choose a nursing home for your elderly loved ones, you do as much research as possible in order to place them in the best facility. What happens when that trusted facility fails? Recently, a resident of a nursing home in Parma, Ohio managed to get out of the building and disappear. He was found, alive but injured, behind the facility. Stories like this one appear all over the news because they occur more often than you’d think.
A Local Example
In May 2019, an 80-year-old resident of Manor Care in Parma vanished. Lisa White trusted them to take proper care of her father, Hayden Thorne, so she was horrified when the phone call came. The staff at Manor Care was unable to locate him despite the fact that he resided in a locked Alzheimer’s ward! He also wore an ankle monitor designed to help staff stay informed of his whereabouts.
Finally, after many anxious moments, they found Mr. Thorne. He had escaped the locked ward and found his way to the back of the property, which contained a steep hill leading down to a creek below. He had fallen 75 feet down to the bottom of the ravine and was lying near the creek bed. Mr. Thorne was alive, but very injured. His family moved him into hospice care at a local hospital and officially out of Manor Care’s facility.
People Trust Nursing Homes
Residents of Northeast Ohio entrust facilities such as Manor Care to keep an eye on their elderly loved ones, particularly those with dementia and Alzheimer’s. What happens when it’s made clear that no one is truly watching them at all? Mr. Thorne was able to escape somehow, despite wearing an ankle monitor and living in a locked ward. None of the staff members saw him leave, nor did they notice when he wandered lost on the facility’s property. Clearly, they did not do their jobs. The trust given to them by the family members was irrevocably broken and he was lucky to be alive.
Protocols need to be in place and followed in order to prevent potentially tragic situations like these from ever occurring. The failure of a facility to care for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s is a large problem and must be addressed and corrected.
Has one of your loved ones been injured, abused, or neglected in a nursing facility? If so, contact me as soon as possible and I’ll Make Them Pay!®
